God's Plans for You in 2018

The life of Jesus begins with Mary at the Bethlehem crib. Therefore it is most appropriate we begin the New Year with a Feast of Mary – Mary the Mother of God.

As a people of faith we gather on this New Year’s Day to honor Mary, the great woman of faith. We are told, once again, how she used time…to treasure and reflect in her heart all that God had done for her and how God was giving direction to her life. Her example should speak to us for we also need to take the time to treasure and reflect within our own hearts what God is doing and what God is calling us to do.

It’s the time of year when we roll out the old and bring in the new. It’s the time for making new resolutions, new promises to ourselves. We resolve to devote more time to family life; we resolve to work more efficiently; and we decide to become healthier by dieting and exercising.

Our resolutions are filled with our dreams and hopes and goals for the coming year. But the question that the Scriptures today invite us to reflect on is: What are God’s plan for us this year? Instead of focusing on our resolutions for the New Year, may we be open to God’s resolutions for us this year.

This is such a fundamental spiritual conversion the Scriptures call us to. How do we become more aware of God’s plan for us in 2018? Instead of naming my resolutions for the coming year, I seek to listen to God’s resolutions for me this coming year.

There is no better model for us than Mary in opening ourselves to God’s plan for our lives. We know at the Annunciation when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was to be the mother of our Savior and Lord, Mary worked through her fear and confusion and said YES to God’s plan for her. With such an inspiring faith, Mary spoke these powerful words: “I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me according to thy Word.”

Can we with Mary speak these words at the beginning of 2018: “I am the servant of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your word.”
In contrast to the frenzy of our celebrations on New Years’ Eve, Mary pondered in silence and stillness in the Bethlehem crib. “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”

Mary pondered and wondered and discerned about all that had puzzled her in the message of the angels and in the gifts of the magi. Yes, there was uncertainty and questions for Mary and Joseph as they pondered the messages given to them about their Son. But her uncertainty about the messages given to her by the shepherds and the Magi did not keep her from reflecting and pondering about God’s plan for her life.
To ponder means more than thinking, organizing, worrying, doing, procrastinating, scurrying, etc. To ponder means that we pray with a faith-filled heart over the joys and the struggles and challenges of the day. It means to meditate, quiet down and know we are surrounded by God’s unending love. We give thanks for the blessings of the day. May we commit ourselves again to imitating her openness to God’s will and her love for Christ and His Church.

If we want to celebrate Christmas as Mary did, we need to ponder this sign: the frail simplicity of a tiny newborn child, the meekness with which he is placed in a manger, the tender affection with which he is wrapped in his swaddling clothes. This is where God is.
What Mary pondered reveals a Gospel paradox. The Gospel speaks of the emperor, the governor, the high and mighty of those times, yet God does not make himself present there. He appears not in the splendor of a royal palace, but in the poverty of a stable; not in pomp and show, but in simplicity of life; not in power, but astonishing smallness. In order to meet him, we need to go where he is. We need to bow down, to humble ourselves, to make ourselves small. The newborn Child challenges us. We need to discover in the simplicity of the divine Child the peace, joy and the luminous meaning of life.

Jesus enters our life to give us His life; He comes into our world to give us His love. In 2018 through the intercession of Mary, may we be challenged and called by Jesus. Let us draw close to God who draws close to us. Let us pause to gaze upon the crib, and relive in our imagination the birth of Jesus: light and peace, dire poverty and rejection. With the shepherds, let us enter into the real Christmas, bringing to Jesus all that we are, our alienation, our unhealed wounds, our sins. Then, in Jesus, we will enjoy the taste of the true spirit of Christmas: the beauty of being loved by God. With Mary and Joseph, let us pause before the manger, before Jesus who is born as bread for my life.

May the blessing that the Lord said to Moses be the blessing the Lord speaks to each of us:

The Lord bless and keep you.
The Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace.